


Be As Stone

by russian_blue



Category: Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Backstory, Childhood, Cultural Differences, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 16:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2235513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/russian_blue/pseuds/russian_blue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Tortall and in the Yamani Islands, children play different games.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be As Stone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gehayi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gehayi/gifts).



When Kel first came to the Yamani Islands as a child, her nickname was not "the Lump."

Instead, they called her "the Sponge."

The nickname began with her mother, who meant it affectionately. "Oh, to be a child again," she said, listening to her five-year-old daughter chatter away in a polyglot mix of Yamani and Common. "Her mind just soaks up new things, like a sponge."

The children of the Yamani court did not mean it so kindly. "Watch her go!" they would shout as they teased her mercilessly. "Squeeze her and the water comes gushing out."

Kel cried all the time that first year. The local children mocked her for everything: for the way she spoke, for the way she ate, for the way she showed all her feelings on her face. Mostly that meant she showed her distress, because around them, she rarely felt anything else. Even with her family she was rarely happy, though with them she did a better job of hiding it. Her older sister Adalia explained that their parents had an important job to do in the Yamani Islands, and couldn't take her home no matter how sad she was.

The Yamani said everyone was made up of a mix of different elements. Kel thought she was made entirely of water, and it just kept pouring out.

When a girl about a year older walked up and bowed to her, Kel thought it was going to be more of the same. It wouldn't be the first time one of them had used the appearance of politeness to be even more mean. She braced herself. They were at a Yamani court party, which she didn't understand at all, except that it involved looking at flowers and then writing poems about them. The few children present were expected to be on their best behavior.

"Keradori-san," the Yamani girl said. "Do I have that right?"

"No," Kel said, and then "yes," because her mother had told her it was rude to say "no" so directly, and that she should compliment the Yamani even when they got things wrong. At that point she had so confused herself that she said, "It's an L, not an R -- Ke- _lah_ -dree."

The other girl tried again, but still got it wrong, because there was no L sound in the Yamani language, and they never put a D and an R together like that. Kel was tense, waiting for the other girl to laugh at the strange sound of the Common tongue, but all that happened was that the stranger finally got Kel's name something like right -- the first Yamani child to do so, or to even bother trying.

"Keladry-san," the girl said when she had mastered the strange sounds. She bowed again. "Be as stone."

Then she walked away.

***

The girl came straight toward Kel the next day, when Kel's mother had booted her out to spend time in the gardens, so she would be out from underfoot. It had crossed Kel's mind that the previous day had been a setup for some kind of trick -- but what? _Be as stone,_ , the stranger had said. What did that mean? And why had she tried so hard to get Kel's name right? Were the children making up some kind of song to mock her with?

But the other girl bowed deeply, deeper than she had the day before. "Keladry-san. Please forgive my foolishness from yesterday. I was trying so hard to get your name right, and then I had a something I wanted to tell you, and between those things I forgot to tell you who _I_ am. Please forgive me. I am Yuki noh Daiomoru." She bowed again.

It took Kel a little while to sort through this flood of words, because although she had been sucking up the Yamani language like a sponge (and then leaking tears out when it meant she understood the other children talking about her), Yuki spoke very quickly, and was a little hard to understand. Later Kel found out this was because she had come from a region where they spoke with a different accent. But she understood that the last part was a name, and then she had a choice: should she be polite, as the other girl was? Or should she protect herself against the inevitable trick, and tell Yuki to go away?

She knew what Mama would want her to do. "I am pleased to meet you," she said, and bowed back.

Yuki didn't say anything about Kel's own accent. She asked questions about Kel instead -- her Tortallan clothing, where she came from, how many brothers and sisters she had -- and Kel answered them honestly, but cautiously, looking over her shoulder the whole time to see if Yuki was distracting her so somebody else could sneak up from behind.

Nobody was. A little while later one of the women watching over the children called Yuki's name; she bowed and apologized, then ran off to answer the summons.

Kel stared after her, wondering if she had maybe made a friend.

***

"Mama," she said that night, "what does 'be as stone' mean?"

She said the phrase in Yamani, and Mama frowned down at her. "Do you mean, what is it in Common? Or are you asking more than that?"

"One of the girls said it to me," Kel admitted.

"Ah." Mama smoothed the coverlet over her. Sleeping on the floor still felt like Kel was getting away with something, like staying up past her bedtime. But everybody in the Yamani Islands slept on the floor, with only a thin mattress between them and the mat below. Mama said, "It's a Yamani saying. When something upsets you, they say you should be like stone: just let the water roll off you. In other words, don't get upset. Or at least don't let anybody see that you're upset."

She frowned then, leaning closer to Kel. "You said one of the other girls told you that? Kel, did something happen?"

"No," Kel said. For once it was true: Yuki hadn't been mean. And besides, her mother's words had made her see something differently. _Don't get upset,_ her mother had said -- but then after that, _don't let anybody see that you're upset._

Which meant they weren't quite the same thing.

She lay awake a long time that night, thinking about it.

***

The other children still teased Kel. Yuki wasn't brave enough or important enough to make them stop. But having one friend made it easier for Kel to put up with the taunts -- especially because Yuki would look at her and then Kel would imagine the other girl saying, _Be as stone._ She couldn't make herself not care, but she started to learn not to show it.

A few months later another girl joined them in the gardens. She was shunned by most of the others, but Kel didn't walk away when the girl approached; she figured anybody the others didn't want to talk to might be another friend. The other girl introduced herself as Cricket and said shyly, "Do you want to play?"

Kel had seen the other children playing all kinds of games: one with polished stones, another with bean-filled bags sewn out of bright scraps of silk. She and Cricket didn't have proper toys, but they could play the stone game, which Cricket called _ohajiki_ , with pebbles from the garden. Cricket didn't laugh when she gathered more stones than Kel did. And when Yuki joined them they could play the game "chopsticks," which didn't need any toys at all, just hands.

With them, Kel thought she didn't need to be stone. Cricket and Yuki didn't tease her, didn't try to squeeze water out of the Sponge. And Yuki wasn't like the other Yamani children; she laughed openly at things, stamped her foot sometimes when she got angry, looked nervous when someone else was being mean. She got in trouble for this occasionally, but it made Kel like her more.

One day, though, it made them all targets.

At first Kel thought Cricket hadn't come to the garden that day. She couldn't find Yuki either, though, and she knew Yuki was supposed to be there. The garden was suspiciously empty, with only a few children sitting near the foot of the little stone bridge. Kel didn't know them very well: they weren't her friends, but they also weren't any of the ones who had made a habit of tormenting her.

When she realized _those_ children were all missing, she felt fear. Anything that took them all off somewhere couldn't be good.

But if Cricket and Yuki were involved, she couldn't abandon her friends. Kel took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and went in search of them.

She found them all in a corner of the garden, Cricket standing with her back to one of the stone lamps, Yuki in front of her like a bulldog. Cricket was white-faced and blinking very rapidly -- Kel had never seen her so close to upset. Yuki wasn't just close; she was there, with tracks down her face and spots on her kimono where the tears had dripped.

Kel wanted to throw herself toward them, fling her arms around Yuki and shout at the others to go away, to leave them alone. She almost did it, too. But the sight of Yuki stopped her. The other girl had already shamed herself by crying in public. Kel's defense would only make it worse.

That didn't mean she had to abandon her friends, though.

She made herself walk forward, not slowly, but not running, either. The others saw her coming. "Look, it's the Sponge!" "She came to join the crying party." "It's the only kind of game Tortallans know how to play."

The words hit Kel like blows on bruises, reminding her of all the times they'd mocked her before, all the times she'd humiliated herself by breaking down in tears. The girl at the head of the pack was one Kel knew all too well: Himiko, her worst tormenter. Himiko was tiny and vicious, but she always had a blandly pleasant smile on her face, hiding the barbs she threw. She smiled at Kel now and said, "I see you've been teaching Yuki-san your Tortallan games. How generous of you!"

It made Kel go hot inside. For a moment she felt like fire, not water, and she wanted to hurl herself at Himiko, scratching her pretty, smiling face. But she heard Yuki's voice in her head, the day Kel made her first friend here in the Yamani Islands: _be as stone_.

Crying wouldn't help. Hitting people wouldn't help. This _was_ a game, at least to Himiko, and she won all the time. But it was also a fight, Kel realized, and a calm face was her armor, her shield. Without that, she'd be vulnerable.

The Sponge would lose this fight. Kel was determined to win.

She bowed as politely as she could, ignoring the comments on how she was still doing it wrong. "I would be honored to teach you to play this game, Himiko-san."

The other girl's eyes went wide, before she got herself under control. It was the first time Kel had fought back on Himiko's own terms. She groped for words, then said, "I have my own games to play. With my friends and all of our toys."

"They look very fun," Kel agreed, still polite. Why should she be jealous of that? She didn't want to play with Himiko and the others. "Much more fun than this is." Next to her, Yuki was sniffing back tears and straightening up. Kel couldn't see Cricket behind her, and reached out a surreptitious hand. A moment later, she felt Cricket's fingers in hers. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I came to ask my own friends to play a game. Excuse us." She tugged gently, and Cricket followed her. They walked away slowly, even though Kel wanted to run, to get away before Himiko thought of anything else to say.

But for once Himiko was silent.

When they were safely on the other side of the garden, Yuki bowed so deeply she almost toppled over. "I am so sorry! Please forgive me --"

Now Kel hugged her, and Cricket, too. "It's okay, Yuki! I've done so much worse."

Cricket managed a laugh. "Did you see Himiko's face, when you offered to teach her?"

"I wanted to hit her," Kel admitted. "But I think that was better. She didn't expect it!"

They chattered with one another, nervous at first but slowly relaxing, while Yuki wiped her face and found a smile. And Kel promised herself that no one would ever corner her friends like that again. With stone, or with fire -- or even with water -- she would protect them however she could.

**Author's Note:**

> Fic-writing leads you to research the weirdest things: in this case, traditional Japanese children's games. :-)


End file.
